I bought Smart TV and enjoying it.

 I had bought Philips LCD TV in 2012 which had 3 HDMI ports. Later on I bought Google Chromecast in May 2015 soon after it was launched in India and my TV became Smart even before "Smart TV" became available.

I was streaming youtube, ZEE, Hotstart, voot, Sonyliv using Chrome Browser on Laptop or Mobile through Chromecast.

HDMI ports on Philips LCD TV were not very good and use to give flicker for a couple of minutes after switching on the TV. The flickering problem increased with time and ultimately the HDMI ports were unusable.

I got the Motherboard of the TV replaced through local Delhi Technician and HDMI Ports were working.

Later on the volume was going up and down without any command.

I bought Cloudwalker TV on amazon exchanging the Philips TV and it was delivered on 4th Nov 2020.

 This TV is AOSP based on Android 8.0 Oreo and has Aptoide App Store pre-installed.

I enjoyed Zee5, youtube, Sonyliv, Amazon Prime Video directly using the apps on TV.

Since I have Tikona Broadband which has max speed of 40 mbps (generally I get 20 mbps) the voot app on TV did not work properly.

I connected the good old Chromecast in the second HDMI port and used the voot on the mobile and it works perfectly as before.

The Hotstar app on the TV had no free option and I can still use the mobile or Laptop Browser version through the Chromecast as before.

Today I was talking to my friend who was looking for an app to show the Google Photos on the TV and I found an app called Fotoo which can connect to your Google Photos account.

Because it is not Google certified Android TV (it is AOSP) I don't have access to Google Play Store but Aptoide App Store has thousands of apps and there is no need for google play store.

I can login in youtube with Google Account and can use Google Photos and yes Aptoide has Google Drive app too. This is sufficient.

Outage of Chromecast on June 27 2018

There is a 10:30 PM serial on Zee Marathi (Grahan) which does not have repeat telecast in the day.

We watch it through Zee5 and Chromecast on our TV next day morning.

We could watch it on 27th June in the morning but later on when I tried to use Videostream on Chromecast it did not work.

I tried rebooting, Factory Reset on Chromecast, restarting Wifi but nothing worked.

After searching on internet I came to know that it was Global issue.

Google resolved it and we could use Chromecast on 28th June morning.

Playing Linux Desktop Audio on Chromecast.

I was using Chrome Browser to play Audio & Video from my Linux Desktop to Chromecast through Chrome applications.

I learnt about mkchromecast and installed it on Debian Testing which is my alternative to Ubuntu 16.04.

After installing the .deb package I had to install the dependencies through apt-get install -f install command.

I opened VLC and started playing my favourite music.

I had to run mkchromecast through terminal and it got connected to Chromecast and asked me to open pavucontrol and change the sink to mkchromecast.

We bought Google Chromecast.

After buying latest Android Phones and Tabs the next step was to buy Google Chromecast to connect theses devices to TV for media streaming but it required Wifi at home and our Landline phone and MTNL Broadband was in safe custody since 2010 when we went to Jharsuguda. I was not wiling to spend for Landline Phone and we experimented with Mobile Operators taking advantage of Mobile number portability. Finally we sattled for Idea after trying Reliance CDMA and Airtel. For internet Reliance GSM Data was working in the Tab.

For Broadband also I am experimenting with Tikona Brodband which is Wireless till the terrace of our flat where a CPE is installed from where it is wired to the Wifi router installed at suitable location in the home.

The Chromecast is plugged in the HDMI port of the TV and gets power either through USB port of the TV or mains. The Android Phone is used for Setting up the Chromecast to connect to the Wifi Router. After setting up the Cromecast is directly connected to the Wifi Router like other Android Devices and Laptops.

Now suppose you want to watch the Youtube video on your TV you first open the Video on the Phone/Tab or Crome Browser on the Laptop and connect the device to the Chromecast. After connecting the Youtube video directly plays on the TV.

You can also play the local media on your Android devices on the TV. For Laptop you can do it through Chrome Browser and its add-on extensions.